Condition of Designated Sites
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Scottish Natural Heritage Condition of Designated Sites Contents Chapter Page Summary ii Condition of Designated Sites (Progress to March 2010) Site Condition Monitoring 1 Purpose of SCM 1 Sites covered by SCM 1 How is SCM implemented? 2 Assessment of condition 2 Activities and management measures in place 3 Summary results of the first cycle of SCM 3 Action taken following a finding of unfavourable status in the assessment 3 Natural features in Unfavourable condition – Scottish Government Targets 4 The 2010 Condition Target Achievement 4 Amphibians and Reptiles 6 Birds 10 Freshwater Fauna 18 Invertebrates 24 Mammals 30 Non-vascular Plants 36 Vascular Plants 42 Marine Habitats 48 Coastal 54 Machair 60 Fen, Marsh and Swamp 66 Lowland Grassland 72 Lowland Heath 78 Lowland Raised Bog 82 Standing Waters 86 Rivers and Streams 92 Woodlands 96 Upland Bogs 102 Upland Fen, Marsh and Swamp 106 Upland Grassland 112 Upland Heathland 118 Upland Inland Rock 124 Montane Habitats 128 Earth Science 134 www.snh.gov.uk i Scottish Natural Heritage Summary Background Scotland has a rich and important diversity of biological and geological features. Many of these species populations, habitats or earth science features are nationally and/ or internationally important and there is a series of nature conservation designations at national (Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)), European (Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (SPA)) and international (Ramsar) levels which seek to protect the best examples. There are a total of 1881 designated sites in Scotland, although their boundaries sometimes overlap, which host a total of 5437 designated natural features. In recognition of the part which these designated sites play in safeguarding and enhancing Scotland’s natural diversity, the Scottish Government set a Condition Target to achieve 95% of natural features in favourable condition by March 2010. The condition of features on designated sites in Scotland is determined by Scottish Natural Hertiage’s (SNH) Site Condition Monitoring (SCM) programme. SCM is a 6 year rolling programme of monitoring which aims to assess the condition of designated natural features. The results of the first cycle of SCM, which ran from 1999 to 2005, are summarised below and discussed in more detail in the following chapters. If a SCM assessment found a natural feature to be in unfavourable condition, follow up work was instigated to determine the causes (known as pressures) and to identify whether remedial management is possible. This was then discussed and agreed with private land managers and partner organisations, in the public sector and nature conservation non-Government organisations, and agreement sought on how the changes could best be put in place. The results of this work are also summarised below and covered in greater detail in subsequent chapters. Site Condition Monitoring The primary purpose of SCM is to determine the condition of the natural features within a designated site. That is, will the current management of the site and wider environmental influences be likely to maintain the habitat, species or geological feature in the medium to longer term. The framework for making an assessment is the Common Standards Monitoring Guidance, published by Joint Nature Conservation Committee, which provides a common approach to the monitoring of natural features across the whole of the United Kingdom. Although the types of natural features are extremely varied, the approach to monitoring each is broadly similar. For each natural feature, a set of ‘attributes’, or indicators of a healthy habitat, species population, or intact earth science feature, is derived from the Guidance. For individual natural feature attributes, site-specific targets are then set against which the condition of the feature can be judged. Fieldwork is then undertaken to assess the natural feature against those targets and from this to determine whether the natural feature is in favourable or unfavourable condition. The fieldwork also assesses whether the current management regime and wider environmental influences are likely to sustain the feature. During the period 1999 to 2005, SNH assessed the condition of 5011 (92%) of the 5437 identified natural features. The results showed that 71.4% of all features assessed were either in favourable condition, or unfavourable but recovering towards favourable condition. The results of monitoring in 2005 show that there was considerable variation between the proportion of the different feature types in favourable/recovering condition. Generally speaking, a greater proportion of earth science and species natural features were in favourable condition as compared to habitats. The results split down by broad category can be seen in Figure i. These 2005 results are used as the baseline against which progress towards the Scottish Government Condition Target has been measured. ii Condition of Designated Sites Figure i. shows that amongst species features, vascular plants had the lowest proportion of features in favourable/recovering condition. In many cases, the condition of the vascular plant natural feature reflected that of the habitat which supported it, as it was subjected to the same pressures. In upland areas, for example, the intensity of grazing commonly contributed to unfavourable condition in both the habitat and the vascular plant features. Turning to the habitats, grasslands, both upland and lowland, are the two with the lowest proportion of features in favourable/recovering condition, but the pressures on the sites tended to differ. In upland areas, over-grazing was the commonest factor for grasslands not achieving targets, whereas in the lowlands under-grazing or lack of active management was most common. Natural features in unfavourable condition – Scottish Government targets SCM acts as a trigger mechanism for follow-up work when an unfavourable assessment is concluded. This will include: – validation of the monitoring results to check that the current assessment wasn’t an atypical result. – in some cases, a check of the status of the natural feature when it was first notified – if the original basis for the designation is found to be flawed, the feature can be removed from the SSSI citation. – where the status of the natural feature is valid, an assessment of the management of the site in relation to the requirements of the feature. Where remedial management can be put in place on, or near the site, SNH staff engage with land managers and statutory bodies to identify the measures which can be put in place to address unfavourable condition in one or more features on a designated site. Such mechanisms to date have included Rural Stewardship Schemes, Scottish Forestry Grant Schemes, Natural Care Schemes, individual management agreements and latterly Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) funding. Where the management on the site would seem to be sympathetic to the conservation interests, but the features are nevertheless failing (eg. due to pressures thought to be linked to climate change) – these are known as ‘no on-site remedy’ features. In some cases, the reasons for unfavourable condition will not be clear and further work will be needed to determine the best course of action to promote recovery of the feature. To measure progress towards the Scottish Government target of achieving 95% of natural features in favourable condition by March 2010: – the results of SCM are taken into account plus – actions which have been taken to put in place remedial management to improve the condition of the feature. For the purposes of the Condition Target, ‘favourable condition’ includes natural features which are in favourable condition, or are recovering, with the necessary management measures in place, so that in SNH’s expert judgment the land will in due course reach favourable condition. This means that as an interim measure, natural features where remedial management has been put in place to address all the known causes of unfavourable condition are counted as favourable until such time as a subsequent SCM assessment verifies the condition, or identifies further work which may be required to further improve condition. The 2005 SCM results set the baseline against which progress towards the Condition Target is measured. As a result of work undertaken by Area staff and partners, including private land managers, nature conservation non-Government organisations and other public sector bodies, 478 unfavourable natural features were considered to be in ‘recovering’ condition due to management changes by March 2010. This figure includes 196 features where remedial management has been put in place and follow up SCM has confirmed the condition as either favourable or unfavourable recovering. The remaining 282 features have remedial management in place, but follow-up SCM assessment has yet to be carried out. www.snh.gov.uk iii Since the 2005 baseline was set, a further 103 features have been assessed for the first time. Of these, 62 features were favourable/recovering and 41 were in unfavourable condition. In addition, 109 natural features, when investigated further, were found not to qualify for notification and were removed from the SSSI citation following the provisions of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004. The result is that a total of 5005 feature condition assessments were used to report on achievement against the 2010 Condition Target. Of the 5005 features assessed, by the end of March 2010, 78% were considered